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Chapter1.Teconstitutionalstateasafunctionaltechnology
Teconceptoftheusetofsets”comesasakindofpolemicwith
MaxWeber’snicelyphrased,sociologicaldefinitions.2Whilstthelatter
likedneatlydefinedcategories,FernandBraudelclaimedthatthewealth
ofempiricalmaterialoferedbyanyseriousstudyofactualsocieties
makesthedistinctionbetweenthepoliticalandtheeconomic,orbetween
theeconomicandtheinstitutionalverymuchuseless.Whilstnotnegat-
ingcompletelyWeber’sperspective,Braudelproposedageneralassump-
tionthatthesocietyisuasetofsets”
,which,whenappliedmathematically,
meansthatvariouscriteriaofaggregationcanbeusedinparallel,de-
pendingontheproblemathand.
Inthemostgeneralway,socialsetscanbeapproachedascombi-
nationsofnetworksandhierarchies.Networksrepresentthefounda-
tionofeconomiccooperation,thusessentiallymarkets,whilsthierar-
chiesarestructuresofpowerandgovernance.Asignificantobservation
byBraudelisthathierarchiesformwhentwopreconditionsarefulfilled:
thedensityofthepopulationreachesandpossiblyexceedsacriticallevel,
andthenetworksofeconomiccooperationgenerateasurplusofvaluable
resources.Teappropriationofthatsurplus,inthepresenceofarela-
tivelydensepopulation-thusinthepresenceofrelativelyintensecom-
petition-istheprimarygainatstakeintheformationofhierarchies.
AccordingtoBraudel,allknownsocietiesareudiversifiedpluralities”
,i.e.
manyalternativehierarchiesexistinparallel,competeagainstandcoop-
eratewitheachother.Hierarchiesformedonthebasisofprimarynet-
worksofeconomicexchangeenterintosecondarynetworksofcooper-
ation,etc.OneofBraudels”mostfundamental,empiricalobservations
wasthatallthedevelopedsocieties(i.e.thosewithsignificanteconomic
activityandrelativelydensepopulations),throughouthistory,includ-
ingthemodernsociety,havebeenandstillremainastonishinglyun-
equalinthedistributionofhierarchicalpowerandwealth.Againstthat
generallandscapeofsocialorganization,thestateaccordingtoBraudel
uwasaloomingpresence,thecomingtogetherofmanythings”(1983;
514-555),whichhadtwobasicfunctions:tosecureobedienceandmo-
nopolizetheuseofforceinthesociety,aswellastoassurecontrolover
economicactivity,i.e.overmarketsandresources.Inordertoachieve
thosetwoprimaryoutcomes,thestatehadtoparticipateveryactively
incultureandinthespirituallifeofthesociety.
2
TisparticularcomponentofFernandBraudel’stheorycanbefoundinBraudel
1983:458-475.
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